Padel has seen a recent rise in popularity over the last few years, with multiple clubs now open across the county. It’s a racket sport, typically played in doubles in an enclosed court slightly smaller than a tennis court.
The sport has seen a rise in interest due it’s accessibility across all skill levels, offering a low-impact, fun exercise option for everyone.
At the end of 2024, over 400,000 new players joined the sport, according to figures published by the LTA.
One player at the East Glos padel club in Cheltenham described the sport as “sociable” after starting 18 months ago.
Padel is a professional sport, offering a range of competitons across the UK and worldwide. Millions of players compete worldwide, with the sport’s competitons growing in popularity due to increasing media coverage.
Neil Overton, chairman at the East Glos Club, gave his thoughts on the rise of padel players in Gloucestershire:
“Certainly in the Gloucestershire area, I think when we opened four or five years ago we were the first in the South West to open courts. There are now seven or eight clubs in Gloucestershire, two or three actually within Cheltenham itself so definitely it’s grown.
“We also found when we opened that a few members were starting to play and now as you can see looking around we have seven courts which are 70% occupied so very, very busy all the time.”
View this post on Instagram
Another East Glos padel player reflected on his journey into the sport:
“A friend of mine was very keen on it and introduced me to it. We came down and played here early on and just took it from there basically.
“It’s easier than tennis, it’s easier to get rallies going. Tennis is great too, but padel is more fun.”
For some players, choosing between tennis and padel may be difficult, as the two share many similarites. However, padel is widely a more sociable and easy game to learn, which makes it even more attractive to diverse groups of people.
Internationally, Great Britain’s men’s team beat Sweden in the FIP Euro Padel Cup Final 2-1 in their last tie of the Final 8. Despite losing to Portugal the day before, the team put up a brilliant fight and went home with their spirits high.
With the sport continuing to rise in popularity, padel can regard itself one of the fastest growing sports in the UK as more and more people get involved worldwide.
Follow our live blog for the latest sports news here:
